EL DORADO – Earlier this season, the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team saw the Butler Grizzlies come to the Sports Arena and pull off a reverse sweep against the Blue Dragons.
Hutchinson returned the favor Tuesday night in the opening round of the 2025 Region 6 Tournament at the Power Plant. After being rolled in the second set and trailing the Grizzlies 2-0, the Blue Dragons won the final three sets to oust Butler 21-25, 10-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13.
Sixth-seeded Hutchinson (15-17) advances to the Region 6 Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2022 and will play second-seeded Colby in the second semifinal on Saturday at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. The match will start at 7:30 p.m. or 60 minutes following the first semifinal between Barton and Dodge City.
This was Hutchinson’s ninth all-time reverse sweep since rally scoring started in 2001 and it’s just the second postseason reverse sweep in team history. The Blue Dragons reverse-swept Colby in the Region 6 Tournament semifinals on November 5, 2011.
This was the Dragons’ second reverse sweep this season, accomplishing the feat against North Platte Community College in August at the McCook Tournament.
Sophomore Atlyn Proctor led the Blue Dragons with 20 kills on 54 attacks, hitting .259. She had 13 kills and only two errors in .344 hitting in the final three sets.
Sophomore Kierny Follmer had a career-high 15 kills on .387 hitting. Follmer had 12 kills and hit .375 in the final three sets.
Sophomore Alondra Villanueva had nine kills and 16 digs. Freshman Mattie Galliher had six kills.
Sophomore setter Angela Reupena had 43 assists and eight digs. Freshman setter Alexandra Garcia had eight assists.
With 24 digs against Butler, freshman libero Clara Oliveira moved into second place on the Blue Dragon freshman digs list and third on the overall single-season digs list with 625 digs. Freshman McKenzye Williamson posted a career-high 20 digs.
After hitting a negative-.231 in the second set, things looked bleak for the Blue Dragons. The situation looked even worse after the Grizzlies led 16-10 in the third set. But a Follmer kill to the deep left corner started the comeback.
The Dragons went on a 5-1 run to get back into the set. Another Follmer kill tied the set at 21. Then tied at 23, Follmer’s seventh kill of the set got the Dragons to set point and Proctor terminated to win the set 25-23.
The Blue Dragons hit .316 in the fourth set, getting five kills from Proctor on .455 hitting in the set. Neither team had larger than a two-point lead in the set until Proctor’s kill gave the Dragons a 24-21 lead. Butler had an attack error on set point and the Dragons forced a fifth set with a 25-21 victory.
The Dragons took an early 4-2 lead in the fifth on a Butler attack error and the Grizzlies took an early timeout. A Proctor kill then gave the Dragons a 5-2 lead. Butler rallied to tie the set at 7-7, but Villanueva’s kill gave the Dragons an 8-7 lead at the crossover.
The Dragons took a 10-8 lead on a Villanueva kill down the line. The lead grew to 11-8 after a Grizzly attack error. Butler again tied the set at 11-11 and 12-12, but Proctor tooled the block for a kill and a 13-12 lead. Tied at 13 after a Dragon service error, Galliher terminated into the deep corner to get the Dragons to match point, then Proctor’s fourth kill of the fifth set sealed the Blue Dragon comeback, winning the final set 15-13.
